Who in the AFC East will challenge the Patriots?

Before the NFL season started, The AFC East was thought to be the weakest division in football, with no team looking positioned to challenge the New England Patriots dominance.

However after week 1 victories in which the Dolphins outlasted 2 weather delays, and the Tennessee Titans, and the Jets, blasting the Lions on Monday night football, one of these teams will be going 2-0.

DEFENSE WILL RULE THE DAY IN NEW JERSEY

Vegas has set the total for this game at 43.5.

Clearly they have this divisional game being a grind out affair between 2 teams with middle of the pack talent and what appear to be quaterbacks who more fit the game manager archetype.

But one of those QBs is veteran Ryan Tannehill and the other is rookie Sam Darnold, playing in only his 2nd NFL game. And based on what I saw in week 1, I am backing the New York Jets to cover the 3 point spread and go 2-0 to start this season.

Ryan Tannehill has a career road record of 15-23 and will be facing a Defense that, from Monday Night’s performance, has all the makings of a top 10 unit in the NFL this season. The Lions have 3 good WRs and Gang Green made life very hard for a passing offense better than the one they play Sunday. The Lions only converted on 23% of their 3rd down conversions, and 3rd down is a passing down in today’s NFL.

In week 1, albeit in bad weather conditions, the Dolphins only converted on 20% of their 3rd downs, yet gave up 43% of their 3rd down conversions on defense, the same number that the Jets offense converted on Monday night.

And with 2 capable running backs in Bilal Powell and Isaiah Crowell running against a Miami Dolphins front that lost Ndamukong Suh, it is easy to envision a game where the Jets get the Dolphins to punt frequently, and themselves extend drives into more scoring opportunities than their opponent.